Success of small market Milwaukee Bucks a great sign for Utah Jazz

The meteoric rise of the small market Milwaukee Bucks is an incredibly reassuring sign for the Utah Jazz.

For a long time the predominant narrative in the NBA has been that the league is run by the large markets. In order for players to earn that elusive championship ring, their best bet is to migrate to the big cities where the spotlight is the greatest and the avoidance of the luxury tax is the slightest. Sure, there have been exceptions in recent years such as the unprecedented dynasty of the San Antonio Spurs or the fortune of LeBron James‘ return to the Cleveland Cavaliers, but for the most part those instances have been the outlier.

Such has definitely been a major struggling point for the Utah Jazz, one of the notoriously small market teams that, outside of two incredible Finals appearances back in the mid-90s, has struggled to make a splash on the largest of NBA stages. Since the days of John Stockton and Karl Malone, the Jazz have had quite favorable success in terms of making the playoffs, but have just one Western Conference Finals appearance and have obviously never gone further.

They’ve been plagued with issues of players leaving in free agency after the Jazz put years into developing them, a la Gordon Hayward. Or players simply growing fed up with the market and wanting out as happened with Deron Williams. They’ve struggled to attract top free agents as they are far from a destination city. And while they’ve done quite well in the draft, particularly by trading for the likes of Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell, their frequent spot as a middle-of-the-pack team makes it hard to land transcendent talent that way.

In other words, the Jazz are a good team, and a great team given all the difficult circumstances they’ve faced. However, they check all the boxes typically faced by small market teams and that troubling reality has made their hopes of advancing to the NBA’s biggest stage feel unlikely at best.

However, across a time zone into the Eastern Conference, a team has emerged that truly stands as a beacon of hope of sorts for the Jazz. The team I speak of is none other than the current East frontrunner Milwaukee Bucks.

Up 2-0 over the Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Bucks seem as poised as ever to make a leap into the Finals and from there perhaps even challenge for an NBA Championship. Some may say this has much more to do with the lucky find in Giannis Antetokounmpo, but there are a lot more encouraging parallels than just that for Utah Jazz fans to grab a hold of.

First of all, Milwaukee’s rise to power has been meteoric. Sure, they have the edge over the Jazz historically as they won a championship in 1971 with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in their ranks, but they’ve been essentially a non-factor for the better part of three decades. Just a season ago they were the seventh seed in the East and were dispatched quickly in the first round of the playoffs by an under-manned Boston Celtics team. Now, after one season, they’ve emerged as a legitimate title contender.

Yes, Giannis has played an astronomical part in all that, but even he didn’t arrive at stardom all at once. He has steadily climbed the ranks to become what he is today. Once a risky draft pick with a questionable future, he’s now believed to be the future face of the NBA.

The Jazz, however, find themselves in a similar spot on that front. While I’m not saying that either Mitchell or Gobert will be as good as Antetokounmpo, the fact of the matter is that the Jazz have not one, but two stars that they’ve acquired in the draft that are still growing and improving. The first step to becoming a small market team to rise to the top is drafting well and growing talent organically.

Let’s switch back to the Bucks now. Milwaukee hasn’t hit any grand slams in free agency, but instead they’ve made savvy and timely trades, such as for Khris Middleton, Eric Bledsoe, Nikola Mirotic and George Hill. They’ve been able to take advantage of ideal situations to add talented guys without giving too much in return that have helped them skyrocket.

They’ve also developed players exceptionally. Middleton is a perfect example of this as he’s gone from a relative unknown to an All-Star, but even lesser players like Pat Connaughton and big man Brook Lopez have enhanced their games dramatically with the Bucks. The Bucks also did well with drafting and developing Malcolm Brogdon who has been a near-perfect compliment for the team. And let’s not kid ourselves, Giannis is what he is because the Bucks worked with him and developed him into a dominant force.

The Jazz don’t have quite the depth of the Bucks, but they’re checking a lot of these boxes as well. The trade for Jae Crowder paid significant dividends, as did the one for Kyle Korver before his disappearance in the playoffs this year. Utah has developed players such as Joe Ingles, Royce O’Neale and even Donovan Mitchell himself exceptionally.

Where the Jazz are lacking is in the quality of trades that the Bucks have been able to pull off, and the Jazz likely need one more home run draft pick, such as Milwaukee got with Brogdon, to really take off. This summer could see Utah make a few of those key trades. And perhaps someone like Dante Exum or Grayson Allen will still be able to take a leap. It’s too young into either of their careers to know for sure.

Last of all, one of the key reasons why the small market Milwaukee Bucks have been able to thrive despite not landing huge free agents is because they’ve inserted a brilliant head coach at their helm. Though the Bucks have improved their roster from a year ago and while guys like Giannis and Middleton have certainly improved, make no mistake about it, the biggest transformation from a season ago was the coaching upgrade to Mike Budenholzer.

Coach Bud has put together a system that absolutely thrives around Giannis on both ends of the floor. They were the top defensive team in the league and the fourth best offensive team, making them an absolute juggernaut across the board. So far they’ve been the best defensive team in the playoffs as well with an incredible defensive rating of 98.4 and the second best offense, meaning that Budenholzer’s exceptional mindset and experience is carrying over full force into the postseason.

For a small market team such as Milwaukee or Utah to thrive, it’s critical to have a prolific and intelligent coach in place.

Fortunately for the Jazz, they have just that in head coach Quin Snyder. Snyder has improved the Jazz significantly from when he took over. And despite a few hiccups here and there, such as Gordon Hayward leaving, injuries or a slow start for Donovan this year, he’s continually had them on the up and up.

He’s respected as one of the most brilliant coaches in the league and has shown his ability to get the most out of his players and match up well even against teams with superior talent.

So what’s the point I’m trying to make out of all this? Well, it’s that the Milwaukee Bucks’ meteoric rise to title contention as a small market team is an extremely reassuring sign for Jazz fans. Yes, Milwaukee is a better team than Utah right now, but the Jazz may not be far away from following in that same path. Sure, free agents are hard to come by in Salt Lake City, but they are and have been in Milwaukee as well!

If the Bucks have been able to overcome their small market status and inability to attract free agents and become what they are today, then why can’t the Utah Jazz do so as well?

If the Jazz can put together a couple solid trades in the coming season or two to enhance their roster, they’ve already got the star players, the coaching and the development in place to very well follow the same path as the Bucks.

True, the Bucks have the advantage of playing in the much weaker Eastern Conference, but that still doesn’t eliminate the fact that they’ve ascended much more quickly than anyone could have imagined. Coming into this season, many experts had the Bucks pinned below the likes of the Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors and even the Philadelphia 76ers as the best teams in the East. Instead, they surged from a seventh seed, first-round exit, to two games away from reaching the NBA Finals as the number one overall seed in the NBA.

Who’s to say that the Jazz couldn’t follow suit? If not immediately next year, at least to some extent? Had they been able to patch up some of their weaknesses at this past year’s trade deadline, they may have very well been able to challenge the Houston Rockets and others much more than they were able to. And let’s not forget that Mitchell is just 22 years old, two years younger than Giannis, and while Gobert is 26, he’s certainly still improving.

Despite a frequent inability to land big-time free agents, the Milwaukee Bucks have still been able to make crafty decisions and timely moves to build an incredible team. The Utah Jazz have the same problem, but also have the same building blocks in place to follow a similar path.

But can they get it done? That’s easier asked than answered, but one thing is for certain. The decisions they make in this pivotal offseason will go a long way in deciding whether or not the Jazz can go on to be the West’s small market standouts as the Bucks have been in the East or if they continue on in mediocrity.